


Arrival

by WalterWalter



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:07:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26409223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalterWalter/pseuds/WalterWalter
Summary: Sabine and Ahsoka bring Ezra back to Chandrila following their search after Endor. (One-shot)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Arrival

**Day 87, 5 ABY**

“Luke.”

The blonde kept pacing back and forth across the landing pad without regarding Leia. In the background, the everyday bustle of Hanna City quietly intruded on their conversation. The speeders flying through the travel lanes obscured much of the new capital of the Galactic Republic but left the lane they were waiting on open.

“Hey, Luke,” Leia said, trying to pull his attention to anything but pacing and being nervous. Luke looked at her briefly before looking back down and nervously pacing again as he began to chew on one of his fingernails. “There’s nothing to worry about,” Leia told him in a tone that was as reassuring as she could possibly have. “I met him you know. He’s nice… not some sage, holier-than-thou Jedi master… Hells, he’s only like two days older than us.”

Luke, again, gave little regard to his sister’s attempt at calming him down, choosing only to respond with a short, non-committal grunt. Despite what Leia was saying, Luke knew that the guy had to be smart and a hell of a lot more skilled than him to survive living with that maniacal droid. What was he going to say to Luke? What was Luke going to say to him? This wasn’t just some everyday meet and greet with another senator, general, or war hero. He was meeting, as far as he knew, the only other surviving Jedi in the galaxy, someone who’s training didn’t amount to a few passing days in the presence of Ben or Yoda. One of the three survivors of Gold Squadron’s run through the Archeon Pass. There was no way that Leia, Han, or Chewbacca could ever understand what he was feeling right now. 

“Hey, Kid,” Han called loudly. “We’re trying to talk to ya.”

Chewy chortled in agreement as the Correlian smuggler startled Luke from his thoughts. Luke shot the pair a glare before he paused and looked out across the skyline, through the traffic, buildings, trees, mountains, over the oceans, and into space where the hyperlane they were travelling would be. “Luke… will you just relax? He’s just a kid,” Han said nonchalantly with a dismissive shrug. “And if he doesn’t like ya, so what? It’s not the end of the galaxy.”

{Organic subject’s actions are stored in my memory banks} Artoo offered as he projected an image of a young kid wearing some type of Imperial helmet. Luke groaned in frustration. In front of him was an image of a boy, no older than 16 and he could see, even in the holo, the experience in his eyes, the tiredness he had in his bright blue irises that were on display under the open faced helmet. The stance he was in was reminiscent of the special forces cadre that had trained under Commander Rex; the blaster he was now firing was one he made himself, and with the flip of a switch turned into a lightsaber. 

At the far end of the platform, he sensed the approach of slightly familiar Force signatures before he saw them through the door as it slid open. A green Twi’lek walked from the door with a purple Lasat, a blonde man with muttonchops, and Commander Rex in tow. Luke looked back at the permacrete beneath him and began pacing again. The Spectres, of course they’d be here… only one of the most famous units of the early Rebellion could have made him more nervous, and of course, here they were. Luke scoffed at himself internally. How could he possibly forget he was one of them? He felt a hand fall gently on his shoulder. Without looking, he could tell it didn’t belong to Han, Chewy, or Rex; the hand wasn’t rough enough to be one of them. He knew it couldn’t be Captain Orrelios because it wasn’t a massive furry paw gripping him violently, he knew it wasn’t Captain Kallus either, that man was just too Imperial to give such a comforting gesture to someone he hardly knew. That left only two options in his mind, Leia or General Syndulla. He quickly thought further before turning, it couldn’t be Leia, she was shorter than him and the pressure was too even if not higher than his shoulder. The warmth of the hand with the roughness of it against his tunic told him it had to be Syndulla. 

Turning to face the group, he saw Hera’s green eyes staring back at his with a look of mirth behind them, even though her face said understanding. The soft smile she wore gave Luke pause before he looked back at the others who had come with her. Captain Orrelios had mischievous amusement dominating his features. “What’s the matter kid? Ya nervous?” he said mockingly with a rough punch to the shoulder.

“Zeb…” Hera said in a low commanding voice, causing the Lasat to shrink back slightly. Luke turned his gaze to Kallus, and as usual the man gave away nothing in his flat, emotionless gaze; years of Imperial training led to that. Commander Rex on the other hand had a look of reminiscence on his face as his eyes bored through Luke and into something deeper, the past probably… Everyone told Luke that Rex had served directly under Anakin Skywalker before the Republic fell and the Empire took its place. A sigh called Luke back to the Twi’lek in front of him. “Look, Luke… He’s a sweet kid. I’m sure you two will be great friends.”

“Yeah, but he just knows so much, and what if he doesn’t want to work with me?” he asked desperately.

“He’ll want to pass on what he learned from Kanan.” There was another name Luke had heard often. Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight. Wedge and Hobbie told Luke everything they knew about him from their time with Phoenix Squadron when they fought alongside him. “And even if he doesn’t… He’ll always listen to me,” General Syndulla finished with a wink.

“Look,” Han started sarcastically as everyone turned to him. “I just don’t get what the big deal with this kid is.” The General’s unassuming look turned to a scowl as Han kept talking. “I mean, if he was really so good… then why would we have needed Luke to overthrow the Empire?” he finished smugly.

Luke knew Han was smart, but sometimes the man had his lapses in judgment. They all attended the same briefing from Syndulla and were told what happened to him, despite how unbelievable it was. “General,” Luke interjected before she started belittling Han publicly. 

“Luke, just call me Hera,” she said warmly, snapping away from the deadly demeanor directed at Han.

“Hera, please just ignore him.”

Hera chuckled at Luke as she got a faraway look in her eyes. “You’re a lot like him,” She informed him as her hand fell from his shoulder.

Luke could feel how confident she was through his own connection to the Force, and finally felt relieved and confident enough to meet him. The door on the far end of the platform opened again and Luke slightly cocked his head to look beyond Hera, seeing… Lando? The rest of the group must have seen his bewildered expression because they all turned to see him walking out, adjusting his cape as he sauntered across the landing pad. When he got up to them, he lightly pulled Hera’s hand toward him. “General Syndulla, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” he greeted as he gently kissed, he gloved hand.

“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” she replied dryly as she yanked her hand away. “Why are you here?”

“What? I can’t come see my old friend upon their arrival?” he asked innocently as he withdrew his own hands and held them halfway up in a mock surrender.

“We both know that you and Ezra aren’t old friends. So why not just cut to the chase and ask somebody out on a date so you can get rejected and leave?” Hera shot back.

Now Lando looked bewildered. “Who’s Ezra?”

From a speaker at the edge of the landing pad, an alarm briefly sounded, indicating an incoming ship. Everyone stepped back to give it the proper clearance, with Hera standing between Luke and Zeb, giving the young Jedi’s hand a reassuring squeeze before releasing it while simultaneously looking for the same thing from Zeb. They all squinted up at the inconveniently placed star to see a narrow profile of a shuttle as its wings rotated and blotted out more and more of the bright ball of fire as it grew closer. The ship flew to the ground quicker than most would, but had a graceful landing, a testament to the skill of the pilot. After a few tense seconds of waiting, the ship decompressed with a hiss and gas was purged from the ship as the ramp opened and equalized the pressure. 

When the white clouds cleared, they could see the profile of a man standing at the top of the ramp. He took a few apprehensive steps down at the urging of some unseen woman standing directly behind him, holding his one of his hands while his other shielded his eyes from the bright light of Chandrila. He stopped a meter or so from the bottom of the ramp, now fully illuminated by the daylight. His wild unkempt hair and beard were complimented by tattered and dirty clothes that were easily a few sizes too small for him, as well as his bare feet. The only thing that looked remotely civilized about him was the pair of lightsabers he was holding, both of which Luke recognized. 

“Ezra?” Hera asked apprehensively as she took a step towards him.

“It’s alright, Ezra. It’s just Hera,” a colorfully armored Mandalorian said from behind him.

Lando pushed his way to the front of the crowd skillfully. “Sabine, It is-“

He was caught off guard by the ignition of a green lightsaber as Ezra took a startled step backwards. “Kriff off Lando,” she hissed as she gently grabbed Ezra’s shoulder with one hand, and the green lightsaber with the other. “It’s okay, Ezra. You remember Lando, right?” 

“Yeah, of course I do… Why do you think I turned on my lightsaber?” he asked genuinely.

“Alright,” Sabine said impatiently as she pulled the now extinguished blade from Ezra’s hand. “You can have this back when you learn the rules of a civilized society again.”

“Sabine,” he said drawing out her name in a pout. “You know I never knew them in the first place.”

“Yeah, but somehow you managed to regress, so until you remember how to act, I’ll be holding onto this.” She took Ezra’s lightsaber but allowed him to keep the one Luke had seen Kanan wielding in the recordings of his time fighting with the rebellion. 

“Just get out of here,” Hera ordered Lando from Luke’s side.

Lando took a few steps backward through the crowd much to Ezra’s amusement.

Sabine took Ezra’s free hand once again and guided him down the ramp. “I can walk,” he told her as they got to the ground.

“Yeah, but if I let you stand there and stare as long as you wanted to, we’d never actually leave.”

Ezra gave an amused chuckle before sobering and walking directly to Hera, casting Luke a short inquisitive glance as he stopped in front of her. Without saying anything he extended Kanan’s lightsaber in his open palms, indicating a silent invitation to take it. Hera reached out and carefully took the hilt, drawing it back to her slowly and chocking off a sob as she held it to her chest and closed her eyes. She held it out as Ezra took a step back, pressing the switch, nothing appeared surprising everyone but Ezra. “Sorry, I may have had to use that for… however long I was gone. I kind of lost track of time after like, a week… But it’s just the power cells… probably.”

“I’m just glad to have you back,” Hera replied fondly as she wrapped him in a tight hug.

“Good to be back,” he wheezed out. During the crushing hug, Ezra’s eyes once again fell on Luke. “Is this my replacement or something?” Ezra asked jokingly. 

Luke took that as a que to step forward and introduce himself. “I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight.”

“Jedi Knight huh?” Ezra asked with a huff. “Kriff, I guess you are my replacement.”

“No, not quite… from what I hear, you’re irreplaceable,” Luke said diplomatically as he glanced at everyone gathered. 

“Thanks,” Ezra replied dryly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Luke mentally cursed himself, remembering how Hera told him praise made Ezra uncomfortable. “Did you say Skywalker?” Ezra asked after a few uncomfortable seconds. 

“Yes but-“

“Like Anakin Skywalker?” Ezra asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“We can come back to that later, but right now, there’s a lot I would like to discuss with you,” Luke informed him as he gestured toward the building.

“If you’re Master Skywalker’s kid, then you’ll want to talk to her, not me,” Ezra interjected as he half turned towards the ramp and pointed at an orange togruta draped in a white robe standing at the top.

“Ahsoka!” Rex yelled from behind Luke as the old clone rushed… well quickly hobbled up the ramp. 

“Hey Rex,” she replied as she gave the old man a one-armed hug. “Got somethin’ for ya,” she said as she pulled out a vial of an orangish liquid and handed it Rex.

“What is it?” Rex asked as he held it up to the light and squinted, studying the serum pointlessly.

“Well, I had the Kaminoans spin something up for you and Wolffe,” she continued as she pulled a crate filled with the vials from the inside of the ship. “I convinced them to use what was left of the Fett DNA to whip up a batch of age-reversing shots… They’re very expensive, so don’t drop them,” she finished with a wink.

“She was your father’s apprentice,” Ezra explained from next to Luke. “If you want to know more about him, then those two are your best bet.” Without saying anything else, Ezra went through the people who came to greet him at the landing pad. Catching up with old friends and meeting Han Solo for the first time. 

It wasn’t long after the two started talking that Luke heard Han shout “What?! You’ve never heard of the _Millennium Falcon_?!” in disbelief. 

“Should I have?” Ezra replied, just as confused as everyone always was when Han brought up the imaginary fame his ship had throughout the galaxy. More arguing ensued between the two as Luke rolled his eyes, the timeless argument between Solo and Syndulla came up again about their freighters.

“Mine’s faster,” Han growled as he brought his finger up to Syndulla’s face.

“Yeah well my hyperdrive doesn’t fail and manage to get everyone captured,” she said as she swatted his hand out of her face. “And I have more confirmed kills on… everything actually,”

Luke would never admit it to Han, but he honestly preferred the _Ghost_ to the _Falcon_ sometimes due to the fact that Hera’s ship actually worked, and was clean, and was accommodating to more than just Han and Chewy, and had a more pleasant pilot… 

“Will you two just shut up?” The Mandalorian barked at Han and Ezra. “Ezra you need to talk to Luke… it’s the entire reason he’s here.”

Luke met Ezra’s curious gaze. “Fine,” Ezra said simply as he extended his hand toward the ship. Seconds later a duffle came flying out from the airlock at the top of the ramp and Ezra caught it, slinging it over his shoulder fluidly and looking at Luke again. “Let’s go.”

Luke followed Ezra off to one side of the platform where Ezra sat on the edge, getting a good view of the mountains to the east. With his legs swinging over the side childishly, he brought the bag around and set it on his lap, retrieving a ration bar and hungrily tearing into the wrapping as they sat in silence. “You want one?” Ezra asked with a mouth full of nutrient bar. 

“I’m all set, thanks,” Luke replied. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the Jedi Order.”

“They’re dead… what’s there to talk about?” Ezra asked as he swallowed his bite and threw what remained of his nutribar toward a bird that was flying in front of them.

“I want to restart the order,” Luke started before pausing for a moment. “And I’d like to know if you’d want to join?” he inquired hesitantly.

“Flattered, but” Ezra started as he outstretched his hand toward the bird. “I was kind of hoping to just fade into a life of obscurity with Sabine… If you need the help, then yeah, I’ll stay. But only if Sabine can too… The old order wasn’t right about a lot of things, that’s something I learned in these past few years, and attachment rules are my chief concern here.” The bird coasted over and landed on Ezra’s arm, cocking its head sideways at him as Ezra scratched its chin and cooed at it. 

“I’m sure that’s something we could work out…” Luke told him as he watched Ezra curiously. He’d heard about what was called ‘connection’ in the old Jedi archives, but he’d never had an opportunity to see it in person. It was just another thing that was always brought up when people talked about Ezra… Just how personable he was with all living things.

Ezra smiled at the bird and shook it off his wrist, silently commanding the bird to fly away as he gave it another nutrient bar. 

Ezra reached back down into his bag and grabbed some type of cube that was wrapped up in a black cloth. “Here,” he said as he slapped the cube down into Luke’s hands. “This can help you while we think it over.” Ezra stood without waiting for a response, walking back to his friends with his bag slung over his shoulder. “I’m sure we have more to talk about,” he called out as he left. “I’ll see you soon, Luke.”

Luke turned away from the retreating form of Ezra, only now realizing how much larger he was in person. He must have grown in the past five or so years he’d been gone because he was taller than Vader was. Luke looked down at the cube and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a gold box with blue glass that hummed through the Force. Luke tried twisting it, prying it, and pulling it before he started to get frustrated.

“With the Force, Genius!” Ezra yelled as he laughed from across the platform.

Luke scoffed and shook his head as he looked down at the object. “Maybe later,” he muttered as he folded the cloth back around it.

Luke stood and walked back over to the small crowd, seeing Ezra holding general Syndulla’s child as Jacen and Ezra looked fondly at each other. Luke could tell there was a lot more going on through the Force than their surface interactions were letting on. Sabine stood on her toes and whispered something into Ezra’s ear prompting him to give Jacen back to Hera and nearly trip over the general’s murderbot as he walked toward a brightly painted ship with Sabine. “Luke, just think about it and let me know… right now I’ve got to check out my home.”

Without another word, Ezra boarded the ship and they took off, jumping to hyperspace as soon as they left the atmosphere.

“What do you think?” Leia asked Luke as the crowd began to disperse.

“I’ve got a good feeling about him…”


End file.
